Council expresses “diminished confidence” in scientific support
Members of the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) sent a letter to Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) science and research director Jon Hare on December 17, 2024, pointing out major issues with the scientific support the Council requires from the Center to make fisheries management decisions. According to the letter, stock assessments, data collection systems and treatments, and the peer review process have deteriorated in quality and contributed to “extreme instability” in the council’s ability to establish catch advice and fishery yields. “The Council has recently expressed significant concern about major issues that are leading to diminished confidence in the scientific products from the NEFSC that are required for fishery management decisions,” the letter states. A NEFSC spokesperson told SeafoodSource that the Center is still reviewing the letter and its recommendations “and will consider them as part of our ongoing process of improving science to support fishery management.”
Ropeless Gear. NEFSC Photo.
Housing affordability one factor affecting Maine lobster fishery
University of Maine researchers are using new tools to study the resilience of the Maine lobster industry, drawing praise from industry leaders for identifying the structural and market factors that have affected it in recent years. The resulting study, published recently in Marine Policy, centered on eight key socio economic factors which it said could be used to monitor the resilience of Maine’s lobster fishery. These were: coastal accessibility, operation condition, business investments, community composition, financial health, risk-taking, personal spending, and physical and mental health. One of the study’s major findings is that Maine’s coastal housing is no longer owned by people working in the lobster industry, as it once was. Lack of affordable housing on the coast is a marker of general economic insecurity.
AI program could help predict right whale movements
Researchers at Rutgers University have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that will help predict endangered whale movements along the East Coast. Using AI, Rutgers engineers and ocean scientists combined decades of whale location data with information about ocean temperatures, color, salinity and chlorophyll records collected by satellite images and underwater robots called gliders. The result was a “probability map” of whale locations at different times of year. “With this (AI) program, we’re correlating the position of a whale in the ocean with environmental conditions,” Professor Josh Kohut, dean of research at the university’s School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, said in a news release. “This allows us to become much more informed on … where the whales might be. We can predict the time and location that represents a higher probability for whales to be around. This will enable us to implement different mitigation strategies to protect them.”
Massachusetts “wedge” closure reinstated
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Court in Massachusetts upheld a federal regulation that limits lobster and Jonah crab fishing off Cape Cod in Massachusetts in order to protect North Atlantic right whales. The court reinstated a rule prohibiting the use of vertical buoy lines in February through April of each year. The National Marine Fisheries Service banned buoy lines in the early spring as a temporary emergency rule in 2022. The Biden administration finalized the 2022 rule in early 2024. A group of Massachusetts fishermen sued and persuaded a lower court judge that the emergency rule wasn’t “in place” in 2024 because it had expired at the end of the 2022 season. On appeal, however, three judges disagreed with the lower courts ruling. The “wedge” closure is now in effect.
NE Fisheries Science Center testing ropeless gear
Twenty lobstermen are participating in a ropeless gear testing project in closed areas in state and federal waters off Massachusetts and Rhode Island this winter. The fixed gear involved is not visible at the surface since it has no surface buoys. When a fishing vessel is within 5 nautical miles of on-demand trawls, fishermen can “see” the gear positions and orientations on a smartphone or tablet using the free EarthRanger Buoy app, available from the Apple or Google app stores. TimeZero users can also view the gear positions on charts with an experimental feature in version 5. If you accidentally tow up an on-demand unit, please do not discard it. Retain the unit and reach out to the NEFSC Gear Research Team at nec.gearlibrary@noaa.gov or (508) 495-2000.
Canada rethinks elver regulation changes
The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has withdrawn its plans execute significant changes to the Maritime provinces elver fishery. DFO and Canadian Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Coast Guard Diane Lebouthillier announced the changes in late 2024, proposing a new policy that awards 50% of the total allowable catch (TAC) to First Nations fishermen and another 28% to a new pilot project that would alter how quota was handed out. Those changes were in response to multiple years of chaos in the country’s elver fishery. With withdrawal of its plans, DFO must figure out how to run the 2025 fishery after closing it for two years. The Canadian elver season opens on March 1.
Comments